


Don't Close Your Eyes, Or She'll Slip Away

by AntsySerpentine



Series: Ruin: The Rise of Abaddon [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: AU of characters, Blood, Gore, Other, Star Wars OC - Freeform, Zabrak OC, death mention, graphic depictions of injuries and burns, severe injuries
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:15:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24311158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AntsySerpentine/pseuds/AntsySerpentine
Summary: Amara is Ruin's newest ally, and since her fall from the Light, Ruin promised her that they would do whatever it takes to keep her safe.Though their greatest fears regarding Amara and her well being make the Sith wonder how safe she really is around them. They pray that their fears are just fears, and will never truly come to light.
Relationships: implied ruin and amara
Series: Ruin: The Rise of Abaddon [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1728760
Kudos: 2





	Don't Close Your Eyes, Or She'll Slip Away

**Author's Note:**

> Incensio Lilium roughly translates to "Burning Girl".

The Sith’s robe is tattered and full of holes. Scorch marks masked by the blackened pigment of the fabric, but the texture is undeniable. Soot covers their tattooed skin, smeared in haphazard patterns across their body. 

Ash burned their eyes as they glanced around the blazing fire, rubble and debris pinned them to the ground. 

Fear pulsed through them, the roaring of the inferno drawing out any other noises that they thought they could hear.

Fire, it was all that they could feel. It was happening all over again, but this time, they couldn’t recall what had started the disaster. They couldn’t remember if this was their doing or if it was merely an accident.

It had to have been their fault. This was too much destruction to have simply been an accident. 

_ ‘What happened? What did I do?’ _

Thoughts continued to spiral in their head as they struggled against the burning heap that was on top of them. For a very brief period of time, their fear had clouded their mind enough to the point that they forgot that they could just simply move the pile off of themselves enough to escape.

Ruin lifted both arms up, using the Force to lift up the mass that was threatening to light up entirely. With being wounded and worn out, it took a fair amount of focus to keep it steady as they scooted out from under the rubble.

Pain shot up their back and down their legs as they moved, a hiss escaping through their teeth. Nothing about that had to have been good. In fact, they were insanely lucky to have been able to move at all. They should have been paralyzed. They shouldn’t even be able to move.

Smoke returned to clog their lungs, the Zabrak hacking severely as they continued to crawl on the ground, dragging themselves to something solid to grab onto. Something to help them get back up and onto their feet.

Sharp nails dug into dirt, and eventually found a scrap of metal that was away from most of the flames, the Sith clinging to it as they started to pull themselves up. The movement was met with a sharp CLICK, a strangled scream of agony leaving them as the Zabrak tightened their hold. 

Ruin leaned heavily against the metal, panting erratically from the excruciating pain that was threading through their body.

_ ‘What are you doing? Don’t you remember what Mortem taught you? Use your pain as power. . . Use the pain as power . . . As strength . . . Just like Mortem taught you to . . .’ _

Teeth chattering, Ruin shifted on the sheet, closing their eyes and inhaled slowly, and deeply. They drew their focus to the area of pain that was inflicting them and began to draw from it, converting it into energy that they could expend. Energy that could help propel them to keep pushing through, energy to keep them moving along. 

With that done and out of the way, they finally allowed themselves to let go of the metal, half stumbling before they spread out their arms to steady themselves. 

Ruin’s eyes fluttered open to the scene before them, and they felt their stomach drop, twisting in horror. Several feet away from them, just barely visible under the smoke and debris lay the unmoving body of Amara.

_ ‘ No, no , no , no, NO , NO .’ _

Terror seized them, their blood freezing to ice as they stared, mouth agape as time seemed to stop itself. The Zabrak pushed themselves off of the metal sheet and started towards her, scrambling frantically to get to her side.

_ ‘No, no, no, no, this can’t be because of me. I didn’t just kill her, did I ? Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead. ’ _

They had sworn to her that they would protect her. They promised that they would do anything to keep her safe, they promised her that they would be her guardian as long as she remained with them. Ruin didn’t break their promises to anyone. Ruin never broke their promises to Amara.

The Zabrak sank to their knees once they reached her, the smoke and ash in the air burning their eyes even more intensely. Tears welled up, partially as a reaction to the irritants, and partially to the guilt flooding over them as they gazed upon Amara.

She was trapped underneath debris, completely and totally motionless. 

In a fit of hysteria, Ruin grasped at the material and wrenched it up into their arms, gaining enough leverage to be able to shove it away from her without risking injuring her further. Pieces of burning material fell from the top as the Sith moved it out of the way, landing on their shoulders, their back and searing through the cloth of their cloak and into their skin. They could feel their knees buckle in response to the fresh wounds, but they refused to relent, lest they slip up and ensure Amara’s fate underneath the weight they were struggling to carry.

Ruin finally managed to push the mass away, landing on the ground with a heavy thud, sending a spray of embers up into the air and onto the unconscious apprentice on the ground. 

Swallowing hard, they moved back down to the ground, their legs trembling beneath then from the overexertion that they just placed on their body. They didn’t want to look at her, they didn’t want to see the result of the carnage that they had caused. But they couldn’t just leave her there like this, not with the guilt crashing down on their shoulders.

After a moment of hesitation, they leaned closer to Amara, a tattooed hand reaching for her shoulder to turn her so that she was facing Ruin. What they saw, made them feel nauseated, and as much as they wanted to look away, they couldn’t stop staring at her.

Her frail and small frame was broken from the mass that had crushed her, limbs splayed out in awkward and unnatural angles. Bone jutted out through skin, blood soaked the soft fabric of which she adorned herself with. Amara’s skin, once fair and full of youth, was ravaged by the fire, blisters and burns covering almost the entirety of her body, the worst of it, a sickening shade of waxy white. Her face was almost far beyond recognition, and her hair had been completely singed off.

_ ‘What have I done ?’ _

Ruin moved slowly, cautiously to slide an arm underneath her to pull her up and closer to themselves. The body moved limply in their arms, head lolling towards the ground as the Zabrak shifted to cradle the shattered body. Their breath caught in their throat, grief choking them as droplets of shame rolled down their face.

“ I’m sorry. I failed you. I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry. Please, forgive me, my Dear Amara.”

Despite the stench of burned flesh and hair, Ruin leaned closer to her, gently pressing their lips against her forehead as a heavy, broken sob echoed from inside of their chest. Tears fell onto the corpse’s face, the Zabrak inhaling sharply as they unraveled. 

Sorrow grew into anger. Anger blossomed into rage. Rage pulsed through their body, and it burned in their chest. Oh, it burned oh so hotly.

A scream was the first thing to finally overpower the roaring of the flames behind the Zabrak. It tore through the air like the plasma of a lightsaber through a sworn enemy. Pure, unadulterated grief and agony rippled throughout the space around them, as though projecting their woes for the furthest in space to sense, even lightyears and lightyears away.

* * *

Cold sweat.

Ruin woke up covered in it, jolting upright as they glanced around their room. They could feel both of their hearts hammering against their chest as they struggled to batch their breath. They very quickly became aware of the soreness in their throat that followed with each and every breath that they took. It burned like fire.

The nightmares, they’ve been getting progressively worse and worse, especially with Amara’s arrival, which didn't help matters at all any. For the most part, they have managed to keep it under wraps and unknown to the other. It wasn’t something that they felt should concern her by any means, but judging by how they woke and the present soreness in their throat, it only felt inevitable that they would be seeing Amara very soon.

Ruin had seen to it that they were the ones to be responsible for her comfort, for her well being, and for helping her learn the ways of the Dark Side of the Force. She has no obligations of any sort to have to tend to them. That is in fact, what they would prefer for things to go, but they couldn’t ever say ‘no’ to her in her attempts to help them. 

The Zabrak inhaled through their teeth as the horrors from their nightmare finally vanished, leaning them alone in the darkened room. Normally, they would find comfort in the darkness after a scare. This time, they needed to be able to see, as the darkness reminded them too much of the charred remains that they would rather put out of their mind.

They finally moved to sit on the side of their bed, legs dangling off the sides, half hunched over with their face in their hands. Deep breath in through the nose, long exhale out through the mouth. They waited in silence, the only thing present to them being their controlled breathing and the beating of their hearts in their ears.


End file.
